just another film blog

Some Thoughts on Girls

I know, I know I am about two months late to the game, but leave me alone damnit. I am a single mom of one dog working very hard all the time…. (jk… I barely work like ever and the dog has a father, but he did come for my birthday so who is more of a parent, now? Huh?) Anyway, I finished the season two of Girls last night and I want to talk about it. I haven’t seen any of the criticism, so I don’t know if my thoughts are a part of the echo chamber that is online criticism or if I am a trailblazing genius… It’s probably the latter.

Girls for me as a young confused and ambitious woman speaks volumes about my current experience. It may not echo my exact experience, but it mirrors it so well that I see myself in Hannah and sometimes Marnie (Who I hate by the way. Why is she such a self involved bitch all of the god damn time? I loath myself for being even somewhat like her.) in every frame. I understand what it is like to want to do something so completely creative but find you have no avenue to also make money at it. It is very hard and I get very depressed sometimes thinking that nobody will ever read my stuff and I will always be in a dead-end job hating myself.

I want to address the Adam rape. I think without a question that was rape. There were several moments in the process where it was very clear that she did not want what he was doing for her. Maybe she enabled him, but it was probably very hard in that circumstance to do anything else. Adam is a deep and varied character, but because of several reasons including that rape scene, I was hoping that Adam did not come to Hannah’s rescue. I hoped instead it was going to Jessa. Jessa is what Hannah needs. Adam is what Hannah wants. She shouldn’t get what she wants all the time. Jessa can make Hannah see when she is being ridiculous. Adam just wants to be all mushy. Boring.

I think Ray is the most interesting male in the series. His struggles are the most captivating and the most real. Him being with Shoshanna wasn’t the best plan in the world, considering she is still a pre teen in a twenty something body, but you can see that he is really trying to make a go of a full life. He is missing something. Maybe that something is motivation, but I think that real something is love. Shoshanna may not be able to give it to him, but hopefully we will be able to follow him in the next season even when he is out of Shosh’s life.

I cringe every time Marnie is on the screen. I know she is vital to the plot and she gives the story some infuriating tension, but what the hell? Could she be any more of a bitch to Charlie? She is wanting him just for his new-found money. There is no way that speech to win him back was genuine. It is constantly all about her and I hope that she dies in the third season. More Shoshanna and Jessa, please. By the way cant that actress learn from Lena Dunham and put on some real weight? It is disgusting every time I look at her sick body.

Judd Apatow has been a guardian angel for Lena Dunham, but I don’t think she should let him write anything. The season finale felt like it was guided by Judd’s very safe hands. While the rest of the series seemed to be taking some chances in the way it told the story, in the details revealed, the season finale felt very much like This is 40. Judd seems to want everyone to be happy. That isn’t the way life is, ever. And that doesn’t make for good drama, of course. I hope that she no longer lets him have any creative say in the rest of the series. Lena is an assured hand that is capable of making her own decisions on the ways her series is going to go.

Lena Dunham is who I hope to one day be like. Her ability to capture the problems of a very specific group of people and broaden it out to capture a whole generation is mind-boggling. I hope that she continues to make such smart and great work.